SINKING SHIP

Desperate Search Underway After Dozens Go Missing in Ferry Disaster

At least four people are dead after a passenger ferry sank off the coast of Indonesia.

Rescuers are searching for 30 missing people after a ferry sank off the coast of Bali late Wednesday, leaving at least four dead. The KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya was carrying 53 passengers and 12 crew when it capsized about 30 minutes after departing Ketapang Port in East Java for Bali’s Gilimanuk port, authorities said. By Thursday afternoon, 31 people had been rescued in a search operation involving local fishermen and a helicopter, although the search was hampered overnight by darkness and strong waves. “For today’s search we are focusing on searching on the water, as the initial victims were found in the water between the location of the accident toward Gilimanuk port,” Surabaya Search and Rescue said in a statement on Thursday morning. Four deaths have been confirmed so far. Many of those rescued from the wreckage were unconscious and had been floating in the choppy waters for hours, with some survivors reporting clinging to life jackets and other passengers for buoyancy as they floated helplessly in the water. Survivors believe the tragedy was caused by a leak in the ferry’s engine room.